Was up in Boone on Saturday night, as the Northern Guilford Nighthawks hit the high country at Watauga High School, and the Watauga Pioneers tasted “The Thrill of Victory”, while Northern Guilford felt, “The Agony of Defeat”
Final score was Watauga Pioneers 43, Northern Guilford Nighthawks 42, and Watauga will move on to play Middle Creek for the NCHSSA 6-A Football Championship…
Northern Guilford was down 43-42, and the NG Nighthawks had a chance to win the football game, but their junior kicker, Kobe Guardado, missed a 36-yard Field Goal as time was running out, and Watauga is your 6-A West Regional Champion for 2025….
It was like watching an ending to old ABC sports program, called “The Wide World of Sports”….That show pushed the theme of, “The Thrill of Victory, and The Agony of Defeat”….Watauga had gone ahead in this contest, 27-7, in the first half, and Northern battled back to tie things all up, and then there was that need for some breaks to come the ‘Hawks way, but the last-second miracle did not take place tonight…
This was a super season for Northern and the ‘Hawks finish out their campaign, (12-2), and it all ends on that missed field goal from 36 yards away…Northern’s Amare Akers rushed for 161 yards on 29 carries, while NG QB Jaxson Kemp carried the ball for 107 yards, on 10 carries…Akers with 3 TDs on the ground, and Kemp had 2…Greyson Council with 160 receiving yards on 5 receptions, and 0 receptions for CJ Morrison in this contest…Jaxson Kemp went 8-18 on his passes, for 188 yards, with his 1 TD pass to Council…Three Interceptions on the night for Kemp…
Watauga’s QB Cade Keller threw for 267 yards, with Keller connecting for 21 of his 30 passes…Keller with 4 TD passes/0 Interceptions…Bowen Mayo was the big receiving threat for Watauga, with Mayo grabbing 7 passes from Keller, for 136 yards, and then the big number was the 3 TD receptions that he pulled in…Mayo also pullled in Two, Two-Point Conversion Passes from his QB Keller, and there was not much that Mayo missed on this night…Mayo also with 8 Total Tackles on defense for Watauga…
The season is over for the Northern Guilford Nighthawks, and for their last game of 2025, this is how the scoring went…
First Quarter:8:01 Watauga’s Bowen Mayo with a 26 TD pass from Cade Kellerand the Miller Hankins kick was Good…Watauga 7, NG 0
First Quarter:5:12 Northern Guilford’s Amare Akers scores on a 1-yard run and the Kobe Guardado PAT Kick was Good…NG 7, Watauga 7
End of First Quareter:NG 7, Watauga 7
Second Quarter 11:01 Watauga’s Mayo with a 20 yard TD pass from Keller…Hankins Kick is Good…Watauga 14, NG 7
Second Quarter 7:29 Watauga with another Mayo TD reception of 40 yards from Keller…PAT Kick Good from Hankins…
Watauga 21, NG 7
Second Quarter 6:50 Watauga scores on the 31-yard Inteception Return for the Pick Six Touchdown for Evan Burroughs and the Hankins PAT Kick is Good…Watauga 27, NG 7
Second Quarter 6:30 Northern’s Greyson Council hauls in a Jaxson Kemp pass and Council takes it back to the house for the 70 TD, and the Kobe Guardado Kick was Good…Watauga 27, NG 14
Second Quarter 2:28 with NG’s Amare Akers running for 35-yard TD take, and the PAT Kick from Guardado was Good again, Watauga 27, NG 21…..
Halftime:Watauga 27, NG 21
Third Quarter 11:32 and it was NG’s Jaxson Kemp on a 39-yard TD run…PAT Kick by Kobe Guardado was Good…NG 28, Watauga 27
Third Quarter 7:55 you had Watauga’s Matthew Leon gone on a 5-yard TD run, plus it was Keller to Bowen for the successful Two-Point Play….Watauga 35, NG 28
Third Quarter 5:23 Jaxson Kemp for Northern scores on a 3-yard run, and with the Guardado PAT Kick good, our new score is NG 35, Watauga 35
End of Third Quarter:NG 35, Watauga 35
3:37 Fourth Quarter Amare Akers again for the NG TD on a 1-yard run…Guardado’s PAT Kick is good…NG 42, Watauga 35
00:47 seconds left and Watauga scores on a 9-yard pass from QB Cade Keller to Matthew Leon and with the Bowen Mayo Two-Point Conversion Pass Play is Good…Watauga 43, NG 42
Final Score:Watauga 43, NG 42
It was a Great Season, for the Northern Guilford Nighthawks, and it has now come to a CLOSE…Best of Luck to Grimsley Whirlies, as Grimsley keeps on running and doing everything that Whirlies can no do, to bring that 7-A Football Title back to Greensboro…
One of the most up and down games I have ever seen. Watauga played an almost perfect game. Northern probably played one of their worse games, yet they still had a GREAT chance to win on that field goal. Kid had plenty of leg, just went wide left. I think everyone in the stadium was stunned that he missed, but a good number of Northern fans didn’t move for several minutes after the game. Heartbreaker for sure.
Wished Northern could have started that last drive on their own 35-yard line instead of back around their own 10-yard line…Some big grabs by Council in the game, but Morrison couldn’t pull it in…Great running by both RB Amare Akers and QB Jackson Kemp….
Good line or two from WRALSportsFan.com/High School OT that I have been meaning to get in here, and here it is…
**********It is the first game decided by one possession that Northern Guilford has lost in two years – the Nighthawks, coached excellently by Erik Westberg, were a remarkable 9-0 in such contests before tonight/Saturday night.**********